


Love in a Photograph

by Kika988



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Gen, Guilt, Momentos, tony tries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 06:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6971266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kika988/pseuds/Kika988
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony extends an olive branch Wanda didn't even realize was a possibility. Maybe he isn't as self-centered as he likes people to believe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love in a Photograph

**Author's Note:**

> I'm Team Cap all the way, but I'm still a little frustrated at Tony constantly being the bad guy. As a result, have some Tony being the giving man we all know he can be, in a way that isn't just him throwing money at his problems. Thanks to Niennanir for the beta!
> 
> Also, title is from an Ed Sheeran song :-)

The green bead lifted off the desk, then the blue yarn, hovering just inches over the wooden desktop. They held still for a moment, the string trembling slightly, then the bead moved closer, the string shifting to line up with the large hole in the bead. 

Wanda’s fingers twisted slightly, the red aura around them responding to her will and guiding the bead onto the string. Her lips quirked up slightly in victory as the string slipped into the hole, just barely, the frayed end catching on the lip of the bead--

The sharp knock at her door shattered her concentration, sending the bead flying into the nearby wall. 

“Come in,” she called out, her shoulders slumping in disappointment. The door slid open and Tony Stark sauntered in, wearing a rumpled three-piece suit. His hair was sticking up in every direction, and he had the wild-eyed look that Wanda had come to recognize as three-days-without-sleep, just in the month she’d been at the compound. He held a blue folder and was fiddling restlessly with the corner of it. “Mr. Stark,” she greeted him cautiously. 

“Miss Maximoff,” he replied. “How are you settling in?” His gaze settled on her, his eyes wide but focused. 

“Well enough,” she replied. “My training keeps me busy.” With a flick of her fingers, the bead and string rose off the desk and into Tony’s view. Tony nodded. 

“Good, good. Kinda bare in here, though,” he added, his eyes skittering around the blank gray walls of her room. Wanda lifted a shoulder in a shrug. 

“I did not have much to bring with me,” she pointed out. “It’s not too bad,” she added. “Like a fresh start.”

“Gotcha. Well, if you change your mind-” Tony paused, mouth open, then shook his head slightly and dropped the folder by her on the bed. “It’s not much, but it’s all I could find.” Wanda glanced up at him curiously, but he was once again avoiding her eyes, so she reached out to flip the folder open, then drew in a strangled breath.

“This is… how did you find these?” The folder held photos of Pietro. She was in a few with him, but mostly just him, from early childhood up until the school photo he had taken just a few weeks before their world shattered at age ten. There were even a couple images of her parents mixed in. 

Tony shrugged. “School servers, the photo printing service your parents used, old family email accounts -- did you know your grandma’s email password was ‘password’? In Rusyn, of course, but still, tragic really. Took some digging, but it wasn’t really--” His rambling was cut off in a whoosh of breath as Wanda wrapped her arms around him in a brief hug before stepping back.

Now she was the one averting her eyes, lowering her lashes in an attempt to hide the tears that gathered there. “Thank you,” she said, her voice rough. “I thought I had lost them forever. I worried…” She swallowed hard, and reached out to pick up the one photo with all four family members together. “I realized a few years ago that I couldn’t remember what color my mother’s eyes were, or the shape of my father’s chin. That was bad enough, but the thought of eventually forgetting Pietro…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Thank you,” she repeated. Tony waved dismissively. 

“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a housewarming gift.” Suddenly his face was split with a large yawn. “And on that note, I haven’t slept in about 36 hours-”

“54, sir,” Friday chimed in helpfully from the device on his wrist. 

“Thanks, traitor,” Tony mumbled. “Anyway, I’m going to go crash.” He waved jauntily as he left, the door sliding shut behind him. Wanda was left staring at the closed door for a long moment. She’d spent half her life hating this man so much she had risked her life for the opportunity to destroy him, and now she slept peacefully for the first time in years in his home. She’d nearly helped a monster destroy the world to take Stark out, and now he stayed awake for days on end searching for lost mementos of her family. 

She sat heavily down on the bed, and picked up a photo of Pietro when he was about eight, looking over his shoulder with an impish grin. She brushed her fingers over the glossy paper of the photo. 

“We have a lot to make up for, brother,” she said softly. “And you left me with all the work.”


End file.
